Darren O’Reilly, Head of Legal & Financial Services at Capita Translation and Interpreting, picks out what he believes to be the most crucial discoveries from the 2014 European Patent Annual Report.
According to the 2014 Annual Report, there were a record number of patents filed in Europe last year.
The European Patent Office (EPO) offers inventors a standardised application procedure which enables them to seek patent protection in up to 41 out of the 50 European countries. Every year, the EPO publishes an annual report, which highlights trends and statistics relating to European patent applications.
According to the 2014 Annual Report, there were a record number of patents filed in Europe last year. The report presents a plethora of interesting trends, but I have listed those I believe to be most prominent below:
Patent filings at the EPO grew for the fifth year in a row to reach 274,174 in 2014. This was an increase of 3.1% compared to 2013 and this is the highest number ever.
Comparing the growth rates globally for patents applied at the EPO, European countries rose by 1.2% and China showed the largest growth at 18%. The US was up by 7%, Korea by 2% and Japan down by 4%.
In terms of volume, Europe filed 35% of all patents with the US filing 26%, Japan filing 18% and China at 9%.
Within Europe; France (+4, 0%), the UK (+4, 8%) and the Netherlands (+9, 1%) saw very strong growth, whereas Switzerland (-3.1%) and Germany (-0.8%) filed fewer applications in 2014.
In 2014 the most active sectors were medical technical (11,124) followed by electrical machinery (10,944) and digital communication (10,018).
Companies topping the list for number of applications were Samsung, Phillips and Siemens. Five European companies made it into the top ten applicants in 2014 with three from Asia and two from the US.
The most active sectors for patent filing were medical technical, electrical machinery and digital communication
Capita Translation and Interpreting offer legal support services for global patent translations, by providing foreign filing solutions for our global client base. We translate patent documentation for patent offices around the world, including the EPO, JPO and USPTO. We offer a wide array of services to suit all patent needs, including:
Patent translations which meet national, regional and PCT specifications
Translation memory technology, helping to reduce costs by saving previously translated text
Knowledge on country-specific regulations for expedited filing
Web-based portal technology for managing translation projects, tracking requests and receiving quotations
Carefully selected and vetted linguists with subject-area expertise to employ the most accurate terminology, in more than 100 languages.
Translation is often the forgotten element in the patent process. Make sure you have a trusted partner that can translate foreign filing for all patent application processes.
Want more information?
Our dedicated team will get back to you with more information if you leave your details below:
Name*
First
Last
Email*
Personal Translation Request
Company*
Contact number:*
Please give us more information regarding your enquiry:
Email
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
The post 6 key findings from the European Patent Annual Report appeared first on Capita Translation and Interpreting.